The Health Law Section has turned twelve years old with the beginning of this current ABA year and I wanted to start this year's Chair's Columns with a look back to the Section's early days and a look toward the future of our Section. When E. Paul Herrington presided over the newly chartered Section in 1996, he was essentially writing on a white board. The Section Officers and Council were 12 individuals (I choose to find something apostolic about that number) recruited from the membership of the Forum on Health Law. This remarkable group included seven future Chairs of the Section, in addition to Paul and Larry Manson, who was the last Chair of the Forum. The Section had an existing publication, The Health Lawyer, and produced its fifth monograph in June, 1997, entitled "Achieving Quality in Managed Care: The Role of Law." Programs were pretty much arranged based on who among the Council and Officers was available to speak. There were no Committees, Interest Groups were still in the future, and the Section functioned based on strong personal relationships among its leaders and a network of like-minded health lawyers throughout the United States.

Over A Decade Later, The Third And Final Phase In The Rulemaking Of The Stark Regulations Is Finally Here!by Andrew Wachler, Esq. and Adrienne Dresevic, Esq., Wachler & Associates, PC, Royal Oak, MI

On August 27, 2007, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released the long-awaited third and final phase of the rulemaking that amends the Stark regulations. This phase III final rule was published on September 5, 2007 and will be effective 90 days later. Phase III responds to comments on Phase II, and addresses the entire regulatory scheme. Although CMS states that Phase III is flexible and favorable to the healthcare industry, Phase III is not the last piece in the puzzle addressing changes to Stark. That is, recently there have been significant proposals, pending legislation, and a CMS mandate regarding disclosures of hospital-physician financial relationships--all of which may lead to more changes to Stark and may have a profound impact on the health care industry. This article, however, will focus on the highlights of Phase III.

In an effort to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the national healthcare system, Congress enacted the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 The HIPAA provisions included requirements for "administrative simplification," which prompted the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to adopt the National Provider Identifier (NPI) as a standard unique identifier used in all electronic healthcare transactions DHHS published the NPI Final Rule on January 23, 2004, and set a deadline for most applicable entities to comply by May 23, 2007.

During late May 2007, a number of the ABA Health Law Section's Officers, Governing Council members and staff traveled to Berlin, Germany to participate in the "Summit on Healthcare in Germany" that was the product of considerable efforts by Chair Paul DeMuro and his colleagues at Latham & Watkins. The meeting's success validated Paul's goal of expanding our Section's interests (and influence) into concerns shared by health lawyers in other nations. The meeting addressed topics ranging from international public health regulations recently promulgated to arrest the global spread of disease to reforms underway within the German healthcare system to address many issues with which we are very familiar in the United States—such as the spiraling costs of providing healthcare services, insufficiently responsive healthcare delivery systems and inadequate infrastructure to deliver services.

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The opinions expressed are those of the authors and shall not be construed to represent the policies or positions of the ABA or the ABA Health Law Section.